The top song on my page is called Froggy Went a'Courtin' but isn't the traditional one you might have heard from the folk musicians. The song (according to our late friend and mentor, George Fisher) is one of the two oldest catalogued folk tunes from the British Isles, the other being Greensleeves. But by the time it worked its way through the Appalachians and into the Ozarks, it was better known as Uncle Rat. This is the version I brought to the Old School Bluegrass Band that has become a staple song in our shows.

This version is essentially the version from Aunt Ollie Gilbert as shown here: ftp://nipper.missouristate.edu/ArtsLetters/Music/FolkSong/MaxHunter/0842.aiff

I added a couple of chords and sped it up for a more "bluegrass" feel, plus I added back in the Froggy verse. The tune is a bit different because it's closer to George's version than Aunt Ollie's.

The other popular Arkansas version is from Almeda Riddle, which is quite a bit different, especially in the chorus:

"Hee-mo I-mo keemo kime-o, roddy roddy ray... rop-strop penny-winkle flanna-doodle yellow-bugger, rop-strop by Mr. Gamble"

(no, I'm not kidding.) http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/riddlefrog1304.html

George said during one of his talks (recorded on our "By George" album at http://www.oldschoolband.com that John Quincy Wolf collected over 100 different versions of this song along the White River in Arkansas alone. Pretty popular song, especially for it to go virtually unsung today.

For the recording, Banjo Bill played his civil-war era fretless banjo, which really gives it a neat flavor.

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